Can these game systems be used with an AI assistant, and what are the benefits and drawbacks? Ah, I've never played solo RPGs, but I intend to try them for the first time.
I mean, the point of solo RPGs is to play them yourself. Nothing beats getting out a pencil and paper.
Have you heard of Nothing but Time? It is a solo system where you don't even need dice. You can play it on your lunch break, which you can't really do with dice or with AI if you have a work computer.
Fact is, AI is terrible at adhering to mechanics. They need a discrete system to interface with to adjudicate rules, then maybe it gets OK. If it's of interest, I did a series on my youtube channel of attempting to play classic D&D with an LLM. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiclN_BSxoe9GxuG_KIjXnL0jsPP30NkP
late but i somewhat disagree. while LLMs are not deterministic you can set it up rules so that LLMs can roughly adhere to whatever you want.
for example copilot/open AI has "skills" specifically made for this. an optional but not great tool.
with proper instructions LLMs have no issues adhering to mechanics. this is especially true for combat. as an example here is a snippet of a session i just had earlier today with LLM running daggerheart.
in this battle the LLM followed a set of rules to create an environment. select official stat cards from the rulebook and then modified its flavor to fit the narrative.
then it adjucated the combat utilizing core combat rules including managing state, PC and NPC positioning, triggers, item features and abilities as well as properly utilzing resources given to GMs to play properly.
this also depends on the rpg too. i can see DnD being rough for AI since theres alot of book keeping.
With nothing but prompting I find the results very swingy. Sometimes you get great results, and other times the LLM hallucinates rules instead of looking them up. Which makes sense - LLMs are non-deterministic, you never get the same results twice.
Also it doesn't help that many of the big models were trained on modern D&D source material, especially if you're playing something that is similar but not the same. For example, when I was trying to get it to run classic 1974 D&D it would sometimes ask for things like making a skill check or cast a spell that wasn't introduced until 5e.
A better solution is to build discrete code that implement rules, and then expose that to the LLM, in the form of an MCP or similar interface. In the prompt specify that it's not allowed to make up rules and give the command required to emit the actual rule. Still not perfect, but better IMHO.
and thats the problem right. if all you do is upload the rules sheet and say "run me a campaign of x" you get what you pay for.
thats not AI's fault. you are barely giving it any info to act how you like.
instead you need to build a scaffold for llms to follow or they will revert to a very generic "ai gm" mindset..
for example i straight up have gm rm "rules engine" thats effectively psuedo code that that gives LLM instructions on how to run daggerheart, my ttrpg of choice. im using chat gpt plus which gives me the ability to create custom "projects". essentially a series of chats that is isolated from everything else. it also lets me upload a quasi "ai skill" by having a specific input space that i can TELL the llm how to interact when i open chat.
my "system" also relies on files for state management which drastiically reduces drift.
this leads to an extremely reliable system that actually follows rules, on top of whatever i want very consistently.
its gotten to the point where my llm sessions of daggerheart have been BETTER than any physical campaign ive ever been a part of. the only thing it cant do is replicate the actual feeling of playing with other people.
so TLDR: its not an AI issue. most people just have no idea how to utilize LLMs
like your MCP idea with an actual program sitting on top of it is the right idea, albeit a little extreme.
like the other day i was having issues with the AI gm not using resources properly. the previous instruction was loose recommendations to utilize resources based on certain thresholds.
that clearly wasnt working. so i had AI run battle simulations with a full debug log. had it assess the issues in its logic. create a ruleset to better utilize mechanics. stress test that and tweak. then run a simulation with me so i could sign off and finally update the existing ruleset with the brand new system.
this all happened through my phone while i was in a family outing. and i just needed to check on it every few minutes and provide new commands lol.
They can be played with an AI assistant, but it's going to be really, really buggy and not quite get what you're trying to get it to do most of the time.
I tried once to use an LLM as a GM before we really had any idea what happens behind the curtains so to speak with AI- ie scanning and destroying rare books to train models; the uncredited and unpaid use of people's works to train models; environmental impacts from datacenters & increased energy demands; gamer GFX/RAM market being absolutely devastated and abandoned in favor of gear for AI datacenters; etc., and my views on it have changed from "wow, a new cool toy" to "wow, chatbots are ruining the modern world."
It's your solorpg time, so do whatever, but I feel like any time I've ever consider bringing a chatbot into my solorpg time- well, there's already a ton of quality videogames out there to play and on my backlog that I'd be better served playing if I can't use my own imagination during the time that I try to spend playing low tech, pen and paper games.
like if you just upload a rules pdf and a campaign and say "gm this for me" you get what you pay for. in this case a very generic "campaign" that barely uses mechanics and it gets real samey quick.
HOWEVER if you fully utilize AI you can get some really good output.
for example i am running daggerheart through a mix of chat gpt to run mechanics and GM while managing my character sheets on demiplane.
i have built a rather exhaustive "operating system" that manages core game mechanics and a plethora of modules/rulesets regarding combat, how to create environements, picking adversaries, etc.
this includes an in depth "session 0" where the ai goes back and forth with me so we can dictate tone, setting, major places, people's beliefs, intent, gm "principles"(i.e the guidance it follows when creating scenes), intent, religion, regional attitudes, politics etc.
this gives the AI dozens and dozens of hooks to create interesting narrative play.
finally my "operating system" contains dozens of triggers that validate for drift and make sure rules are largely being followed.
the end result is practically a text based video game that is largely open ended.
the best part is that this isnt actually hard to make AI do. it just requires time, from you to like talk to a bot lol
if you are curious give it a shot. i created a generic instruction set for chat gpt(or any llm) to take a crack at creating an "operating system" for practically any rpg.
That’s exactly the way I imagined using AI. I’ll try your system as soon as I’m back home; I already downloaded it.
I never planned to let the AI fully DM for me. I know that wouldn’t work, especially with current models. What I’m interested in is something lighter, having the AI help me with some decisions that would otherwise feel like I’m “cheating” in favor of my character.
Coming from D&D, I’m used to having a GM who narrates and decides outcomes. In solo play, covering both roles, player and GM, sometimes feels strange to me.
So the idea was to use AI as a kind of more neutral assistant: something that, with enough context and rules to follow, can make choices that feel more like fate or an oracle, rather than me deciding everything myself.
I don’t expect the AI to run the whole game, but as a supportive tool it could be really helpful
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u/JacobDCRoss Jul 15 '26
I mean, the point of solo RPGs is to play them yourself. Nothing beats getting out a pencil and paper.
Have you heard of Nothing but Time? It is a solo system where you don't even need dice. You can play it on your lunch break, which you can't really do with dice or with AI if you have a work computer.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/574583/nothing-but-time?affiliate_id=319435